Kinsey Millhone Kinsey Millhone Created by Sue Grafton (1940 --) "My name is Kinsey Millhone. I am a private investigator, licensed by the state of California. I am thirty-two years old, twice divorced, no kids. The day before yesterday I killed someone and the fact weighs heavily on my mind." -- the opening lines of A is for Alibi Can you dig the new breed? Private eye KINSEY MILLHONE is probably the most popular, and certainly the best of the female gumshoes to make their big splash in the eighties -- or at least one of the top two (a case could certainly be made for Sara Paretsky's V.I. Warshawski ). Kinsey's charm lies in the fact that she's a woman of "rare spunk and independence," and that not only does she think she's tougher and smarter than she is, but that she consistently surprises the reader by being smarter and tougher than we think she is. She's no white knight, seething at the injustices of the world, but a pragmatic businesswoman whose quixotic streak and personal idiosyncrasies are balanced against her dedication and loyalty to her clients.

Because, at first glance, she's an accident waiting to happen. She drives a decrepit Volkswagen, she cuts her own hair with toenail scissors, she lives in a garage with a closet full of neuroses and one dress, a remarkable piece of black, synthetic miracle fabric which seems more capable of handling the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune than Kinsey is. Oh, and she's permanently stuck in the eighties. Although that's by design -- unlike most series detectives, Kinsey's adventures all take place within a few yerars of each other. This is the private eye Annie Hall-era Diane Keaton was born to play. But it's not all D is for Dysfunction. When it comes to business, Kinsey's a true professional. She's a dogged investigator, tough and smart but never reckless, not afraid to knock on doors and do the legwork. And refreshingly, she's not afraid to let us see the business side of her business, be it worrying about paying the office utility bills, collecting from deadbeat clients, or sweating over licensing woes or contract hassles. It adds a a cold dash of pragmatism and versimultude that neatly balances her personal quirks.

Kinsey's turf is the sun-blinded streets of southern California's Santa Teresa (actually Santa Barbara -- the same streets Ross Macdonald's Lew Archer prowled). Incidentally, Kinsey's creator, Sue Grafton, insists she only writes about crime -- she doesn't commit it. She confesses that she's a "law-abiding little bun." And she's the daughter of C.W. Grafton, whose own The Rat Began to Gnaw the Rope is considered by many to be a classic of crime fiction. NOVELS "Non Sung Smoke" (1988, An Eye For Justice ) "Falling Off the Roof" (1989, Sisters in Crime) "A Poison that Leaves No Trace" (1990, Sisters in Crime #2) "Full Circle" (1991, A Woman's Eye) "A Little Missionary Work" (1992, Deadly Allies ) "The Lying Game" (September 2003, Lands' End Catalogue) Also as a pamphlet given to attendees at Malice Domestic 2011 conference, where Grafton was recognized for Lifetime Achievement.

COLLECTIONS Kinsey and Me (2013).. Buy this book .. Kindle it! The original edition of this was published in 1991, and only available as a limited-edition collector's item. COLLECTOR'S CORNER Kinsey and Me (Bench Press, 1991) "C" is for Collectible, I guess. This rarity was published by Graftom herself, and collects her short stories and an intro on her writing. Only 300 copies were printed, each signed, numbered and slipcased, and was available only by mail order from Grafton herself. Dealers are currently asking $750.00 or even more for a copy. RELATED LINKS The author's official web site. REFERENCE Kinsey Millhone Biography, by Sue Grafton A is for Alibi When Laurence Fife was murdered, few mourned his passing. A prominent divorce attorney with a reputation for single-minded ruthlessness on behalf of his clients, Fife was also rumored to be a dedicated philanderer. More... B is for Burglar Beverly Danziger looked like an expensive, carefully wrapped package from a good but conservative shop.

Only her compulsive chatter hinted at the nervousness beneath her cool surface. It was a nervousness out of all proportion to the problem she placed before Kinsey Millhone. More... C is for Corpse He was young—maybe twenty or so—and he must once have been a good-looking kid. Kinsey could see that. But now his body was covered in scars, his face half-collapsed. It saddened Kinsey and made her curious. More... D is for Deadbeat He called himself Alvin Limardo, and the job he had for Kinsey was cut-and-dried: locate a kid who'd done him a favor and pass on a check for $25,000. It was only later, after he'd stiffed her for her retainer, that Kinsey found out his name was Daggett. John Daggett. More... E is for Evidence It was the silly season and a Monday at that, and Kinsey Millhone was bogged down in a preliminary report on a fire claim. Something was nagging at her, but she couldn't pin it. The last thing she needed in the morning mail was a letter from her bank recording an erroneous $5,000 deposit in her account.

Kinsey had never believed in Santa Claus and she wasn't about to change her mind now. More... F is for Fugitive Floral Beach wasn't much of a town: six streets long and three deep, its only notable feature a strip of sand fronting the Pacific. It was on that sandy beach seventeen years ago that the strangled body of Jean Timberlake had been found. More... G is for Gumshoe Kinsey is run off the road by a red pickup truck, wrecking her '68 Volkswagen and landing herself in the hospital. Maybe a bodyguard is a good idea after all...Enter Robert Dietz, a burnt-out detective, "late forties, five ten, maybe 170, [who arrives in] jeans, cowboy boots, a tweed sport coat with a blue toothbrush protruding from the breast pocket like a ballpoint pen." More... H is for Homicide His name was Parnell Perkins, and until shortly after midnight, he'd been a claims adjustor for California Fidelity. Then someone came along and put paid to that line of work. And to any other.

Parnell Perkins had been shot at close range and left for dead in the parking lot outside California Fidelity's offices. More... I is for Innocent Readers of Sue Grafton's fiction know she never writes the same book twice, and "I" is for Innocent is no exception. Her most intricately plotted novel to date, it is layered in enough complexity to baffle even the cleverest among us. More... J is for Judgment "J" is for Jaffe: Wendell Jaffe, dead these past five years. Or so it seemed until his former insurance agent spotted him in the bar of a dusty little resort halfway between Cabo San Lucas and La Paz. Five years ago, when Jaffe's thirty-five-foot Fuji ketch was found drifting off the Baja coast, it seemed a sure thing he'd gone overboard. More... K is for Killer Lorna Kepler was beautiful and willful, a loner who couldn't resist flirting with danger. Maybe that's what killed her. Her death had raised a host of tough questions. The cops suspected homicide, but they could find neither motive nor suspect. Even the means were mysterious. More... L is for Lawless Kinsey's skills are about to be sorely tested.

She is about to meet her duplicitious match in a couple of world-class prevaricators who quite literally take her for the ride of her life. "L" is for Lawless: Call it Kinsey Millhone in bad company. Call it a mystery without a murder, a treasure hunt without a map, a quest novel with truly mixed-up motives. More... M is for Malice "M" is for money. Lots of it. "M" is for Malek Construction, the $40 million company that grew out of modest soil to become one of the big three in California construction, one of the few still in family hands. "M" is for the Malek family: four sons now nearing middle age who stand to inherit a fortune. More... N is for Noose Kinsey Millhone should have done something else—she should have turned the car in the direction of home. Instead, she was about to put herself in the gravest jeopardy of her career. More... O is for Outlaw The call comes on a Monday morning from a guy who scavenges defaulted storage units at auction. The weekend before, he'd bought a stack of cardboard boxes.

In one, there was a collection of childhood memorabilia with Kinsey's name all over it. For thirty bucks, he was offering Kinsey the lot. More... P is for Peril Dr. Dowan Purcell had been missing for nine weeks when Kinsey got a call asking her to take on the case. A specialist in geriatric medicine, Purcell was a prominent member of the Santa Teresa medical community, and the police had done a thorough job. Purcell had no known enemies and seemed contented with his life. More... Q is for Quarry She was a "Jane Doe," an unidentified white female whose decomposed body was discovered near a quarry off California's Highway 1. The case fell to the Santa Teresa County Sheriff's Department, but the detectives had little to go on. More... R is for Ricochet Reba Lafferty was a daughter of privilege, the only child of an adoring father. Nord Lafferty was already in his fifties when Reba was born, and he could deny her nothing. Over the years, he quietly settled her many scrapes with the law, but he wasn't there for her when she was convicted of embezzlement and sent to the California Institute for Women.

Now, at thirty-two, she is about to be paroled, having served twenty-two months of a four-year sentence. More... S is for Silence In "S" is for Silence, Kinsey Millhone's nineteenth excursion into the world of suspense and misadventure, "S" is for surprises as Sue Grafton takes a whole new approach to telling the tale. And S is for superb: Kinsey and Grafton at their best. More... T is for Trespass In what may be her most unsettling novel to date, Sue Grafton's "T" is for Trespass is also her most direct confrontation with the forces of evil. Beginning slowly with the day-to-day life of a private eye, Grafton suddenly shifts from the voice of Kinsey Millhone to that of Solana Rojas, introducing readers to a chilling sociopath. More... U is for Undertow It's April, 1988, a month before Kinsey Millhone's 38th birthday and she's alone in her office doing paperwork when a young man arrives unannounced.

He has a preppy air about him and looks as if he'd be carded if he tried to buy booze, but Michael Sutton is 27, an unemployed college drop-out. Twenty-one years before, a four-year old girl disappeared. A recent reference to her kidnapping has triggered a flood of memories. Sutton now believes he stumbled on her lonely burial when he was six years old. More... V is for Vengeance The new Kinsey Millhone novel from the #1 New York Times-bestselling author. "I know there are people who believe you should forgive and forget. For the record, I'd like to say I'm a big fan of forgiveness as long as I'm given the opportunity to get even first." More... W is for Wasted Two dead men changed the course of my life that fall. One of them I knew and the other I'd never laid eyes on until I saw him in the morgue. The first was a local PI of suspect reputation. He'd been gunned down near the beach at Santa Teresa. It looked like a robbery gone bad. The other was on the beach six weeks later. He'd been sleeping rough. Probably homeless. No identification.

A slip of paper with Millhone's name and number was in his pants pocket. More... X Perhaps her darkest and most chilling novel, it features a remorseless serial killer who leaves no trace of his crimes. Once again breaking the rules and establishing new paths, Grafton wastes little time identifying this sociopath. The test is whether Kinsey can prove her case against him before she becomes his next victim. More... Sue Grafton Analysis - eNotes.com Sue Grafton Analysis link Link When Sue Grafton created Kinsey Millhone, a wisecracking, tough private investigator in 1982, she successfully recast the hard-boiled detective character type made famous by Raymond Chandler and Ross Macdonald as a woman. Kinsey’s self-reliance, humor, and dedication to her job make her admirable, and her weakness for fast food, difficulty maintaining a relationship with a man, and missteps as she investigates cases make her a sympathetic and believable character. Grafton’s success as a writer is due largely to the popularity of the Kinsey character, with whom women identify. Grafton’s novels have been translated into twenty-six languages, and more than ten million copies of her books are in print.

Her mystery and detective fiction has earned many awards, beginning with the Mysterious Stranger Award from the Cloak and Clue Society for “A” Is for Alibi (1982).“B” Is for Burglar (1985) received Shamus and Anthony awards; “C” Is for Corpse (1986) won an Anthony; “G” Is for Gumshoe (1990) earned Shamus and Anthony awards, and “K” Is for Killer (1994) won an Anthony. Grafton received the Maltese Falcon award for “F” Is for Fugitive (1989), the American Mystery Award for “H” Is for Homicide (1991) and “A Poem That Leaves No Time,” and the Ridley Award for “O” Is for Outlaw (2001). Six of her Kinsey Millhone series novels won Doubleday Mystery Guild Awards. Her short story “The Parker Shotgun” received the Macavity and Anthony awards.

She has served as president of the Mystery Writers of America (1994-1995) and of the Private Eye Writers of America (1989-1990) and been a member of the Writers Guild of America, West, and the Crime Writers’ Association. link Link DuBose, Martha Hailey, with Margaret Caldwell Thomas. Women of Mystery: The Lives and Works of Notable Women Crime Novelists. New York: St. Martin’s Minotaur, 2000. Contains an essay on Sue Grafton that looks at her life and how it influenced her writing. It describes the exhaustive research that Grafton puts into her work and notes her primary influences, Raymond Chandler and Ross Macdonald, and her favorite contemporary writer, Elmore Leonard. Grafton, Sue. Sue Grafton: Author of the Kinsey Millhone Mysteries. The author’s official Web site contains a biography, information on the series novels, links to interviews and reviews, photographs, and copies of some of the journals Grafton keeps as she develops a book. Grafton, Sue. “Sue Grafton: Death and the Maiden.” Interview by Jonathan Bing.

Publishers Weekly 245, no. 16 (April 20, 1998): 40-41. Grafton discusses her childhood, her motivation to write the Kinsey Millhone series, and how she came to choose the alphabetized titles. Grafton, Sue, ed. Writing Mysteries: A Handbook. Cincinnati, Ohio: Writer’s Digest Books, 1992. A collection of essays on how to write a mystery, from start to finish, with an introduction by Grafton that provides insights into her own writing. Herbert, Rosemary. The Fatal Art of Entertainment: Interviews with Mystery Writers. New York: G. K. Hall, 1996. In her interview, Grafton states that what interests her is the “psychology of homicide.” However, she prefers to examine the killer from the outside, rather than writing from the murderer’s point of view. Kaufman, Natalie Hevener, and Carol McGinnis Kay. “G” Is for Grafton: The World of Kinsey Millhone. Rev. ed. New York: Owl Books, 2000.

This book about the character Kinsey Millhone contains chapters on her biography, her personality, her relationships, her work history, the settings in which she finds herself, and her moral code as well as chapters on Grafton’s writing style and her place in the genre. Nicholls, Jane, and Bonnie Bell. “Banishing Old Ghosts.” People Weekly 44, no. 18 (October 30, 1995): 115-116. Profile of Grafton looks at her childhood in Kentucky and her relationship with her parents and her attitude toward her home state. Waxman, Sharon. “Mystery Writer in the Mirror: ’A’ Is for Alter Ego—Like Her Heroine, Sue Grafton Values Her Freedom.” Washington Post, November 1, 2001, p. C01. This feature article provides an examination of Grafton’s personal history and of how she came to write the Kinsey Millhone series.

In 'Alphabet' Mysteries, 'S' Is Really For Santa Barbara : NPR In 'Alphabet' Mysteries, 'S' Is Really For Santa Barbara Embed Embed In 'Alphabet' Mysteries, 'S' Is Really For Santa Barbara In 'Alphabet' Mysteries, 'S' Is Really For Santa Barbara Embed Embed Santa Barbara is a picturesque city on the coast of Southern California. Author Sue Grafton says the city's sunny climate and charming architecture make it the perfect setting for murder. Alex Proimos (proimos)/Flickr hide caption toggle caption Alex Proimos (proimos)/Flickr Novelist Sue Grafton is a real hoot. She's just as likely to talk, in that native Kentucky drawl of hers, about her prized silver-coin mint julep cups as about a juicy murder mystery. But she does have a crime writer's imagination. "I always say to people, 'Don't cross me, OK? Because you will be so sorry,'" she says. "'I have ways to kill you you ain't even thought of yet.'" Grafton is famous for her "Alphabet" mystery series.

Private investigator Kinsey Millhone is the heroine , but the novels' setting also plays a starring role: Millhone lives and works in Santa Teresa, a fictional town based on Santa Barbara, Calif. 'The Goddess Of Santa Teresa' Sue Grafton was born in Kentucky and now lives both in Louisville, Ky. and Montecito, Calif. Her California home is just outside of Santa Barbara. Laurie Roberts/St. Martin's Press hide caption toggle caption Laurie Roberts/St. Martin's Press Sue Grafton was born in Kentucky and now lives both in Louisville, Ky. and Montecito, Calif. Her California home is just outside of Santa Barbara. Laurie Roberts/St. Martin's Press We're driving through Santa Barbara, with Grafton behind the wheel of her Mercedes. As she writes in A Is for Alibi, the series' kickoff whodunit, the city is "an artfully arranged" Southern California town: "The public buildings look like old Spanish missions, the private homes look like magazine illustrations, the palm trees are trimmed of unsightly brown fronds, and the marina is as perfect as a picture postcard." "What better setting for murder and mayhem than a gorgeous town like this?" she asks.

Grafton says she used to think Santa Barbara's beautiful views and temperate weather were monotonous. Now, she kisses the ground of her real-life and fictional setting every day. The 73-year-old author calls herself the Goddess of Santa Teresa. "I control the weather; I can move real estate at will; I can change the orientation of streets," she explains. "And I am not only responsible for all the homicides, I am responsible for the solution to all those crimes." Article continues after sponsorship Those solutions come about through her alter ego, Kinsey Millhone — whose name, like Santa Teresa's, she lifted from the writings of hard-boiled crime novelist Ross MacDonald. Millhone is a feisty gumshoe who curses a lot and likes to eat peanut butter and pickle sandwiches. "She's the person I might have been had I not married young and had my children," Grafton says. "[Though] I am not an adventuresome sort. I'm terrified of violence. And if I'm stopped by the cops, I'm in a white-hot sweat. Kinsey is also respectful of law and order, but she does break and enter.

You know, that's OK." 23 Letters Down, Three To Go From the beach, on a clear day, you can see offshore oil rigs bobbing up and down on the Pacific horizon. It's hard to imagine now that Santa Barbara was the site of one of the country's biggest oil spills in 1969. Still, Grafton says she never goes in the water. "The ocean is so cold and so dirty," she confides, "and there are things down in there that will bite you." Damian Gadal /Flickr Instead, we head over to a Santa Barbara locale where some of her characters have met their demise: the long wooden pier at Stearns Wharf. It's a tourist spot with restaurants, fishermen and even a psychic, all overlooking a scenic marina. "This is called the poor man's yacht harbor, 'cause you can park out there for nothin'," Grafton says. "It is so much a part of Santa Teresa. I'll show you the marina where, at the end of J Is for Judgement, Renata Huff goes off." Grafton began writing the Kinsey Millhone mysteries in 1982, alphabetizing the title of each book with crime words.

On the pier, Grafton quickly recites the list: "Alibi, burglar, corpse, deadbeat, E Is for Evidence, F Is for Fugitive, G Is for Gumshoe, homicide, innocent, J Is for Judgement, K Is for Killer, L Is for Lawless, M Is for Malice, N Is for Noose, O Is for Outlaw, P Is for Peril, Q Is for Quarry, R Is for Ricochet, S Is for Silence, T Is for Trespass, U Is for Undertow, V Is for Vengeance." The next book will be W is for Wasted . Grafton promises "z" will be for "zero" — and after she finishes that one, she's taking a nap. Gail Frederick (gailf548)/Flickr Truth Is More Frustrating Than Fiction Kinsey Millhone likes to jog around the town's bird sanctuary to blow off steam. Every morning, Grafton takes a three-hour walk here and in other nature spots. On the headphones, instead of grooving to music— which she detests— she listens to an evangelistic financial talk show.

The bird sanctuary is where Grafton set up a fictitious homeless encampment in her latest book. Across the street, there's a Mexican cafe that serves as a hangout for police officers. "You get a margarita there and you can hardly walk to your car," Grafton quips. "So it's perfect for cops." Downtown, at the Santa Barbara police station, Grafton meets up with Chief Cam Sanchez, a big fan of hers. He says most of the crimes in town are home burglaries: "We're talking computers, safes, priceless paintings." For nearly an hour, Sanchez regales Grafton with stories about himself, his officers and unsolved murders. They commiserate over the cases that go unresolved. "In real life, sometimes you know exactly who the killer is, and you can't arrest 'em or can't convict 'em, or you convict 'em and they get out on a technicality," Grafton gripes. "And we've had that happen in Santa Barbara," Sanchez agrees. "You just go, 'Oh my god, the guy's walkin'.' And it is so frustrating." Grafton says that's why she prefers her crimes fictionalized.

"An invented crime is more carefully thought-out," she says. "It has some intelligence to it, it has some cunning. It's still murder, but it isn't an alcoholic, impetuous crime of passion. Psychopaths are not interesting, because there is no reason for what they do. Usually with a homicide, somebody has a motive, if you can figure out what it is." Before Grafton leaves, Sanchez asks her to critique the manuscript of a book he's writing — it seems everyone in town has a book in the works. Anna Fox (harshlight)/Flickr Idyllic Settings For Hideous Acts We cross the street to Santa Barbara's elegant courthouse, a Spanish-Moorish landmark built in 1929, so Grafton can pay a visit to her friend, Judge Brian Hill. "This is a spectacular courtroom," Hill says. "I mean, this is a courtroom that exudes justice and decorum and seriousness." And maybe a little something else. Back in his chambers, Hill shows off a secret stash: a half-full bottle of Gentleman Jack Tennessee whiskey, which he found hiding in the bookshelves, buried behind the California Appellate Reports. "Isn't it funny?" he asks.

"Obviously there was some judge ... who liked to take a nip now and then." I ask Grafton if that's the sort of thing she might put in one of her books. "Naw," she says. "Nobody would believe it. It's like, 'Oh, Judge Hill, c'mon.'" We chat about autopsies, overcrowded prisons and the Dodgers before Grafton bids Hill goodbye and tells him the next stop on our Santa Barbara tour is the Cold Spring Canyon Arch Bridge — "in case we want to throw ourselves off," she tells Hill playfully. Brian Carter (robotmachine)/Flickr We drive up a windy road outside of town, to the highest arch bridge in California. It's a dramatic view, and a terrifying drop to the ravine 400 feet below. "What an idyllic, beautiful place this is, and what a great setting for something as hideous as murder," Grafton says. "You know, the contrast between the two." Grafton says she much prefers writing mysteries to the Hollywood screenplays she used to pen with her husband. I ask her if crafting so many murders makes her think about her own mortality.

"I haven't agreed to do that yet," she says with a laugh — meaning dying. "I know it's the general plan for humankind. But you know, I think it's really rude." On the other hand, Grafton says she doesn't trust anyone who's always polite. She says everyone, including herself, has a dark side. Kinsey Millhone | fictional character | Britannica.com fictional character THIS IS A DIRECTORY PAGE. Britannica does not currently have an article on this topic. Learn about this topic in these articles: in Sue Grafton ...by Edward Gorey’s darkly amusing The Gashlycrumb Tinies (1963). The first novel, released in 1982, was titled A Is for Alibi, and it introduced Kinsey Millhone, a tough-as-nails private investigator based in the fictional California city of Santa Teresa (modeled on Santa Barbara). Along with fellow detective novelist Sara Paretsky (whose... Review: “A” Is for Alibi by Sue Grafton by David Cranmer “A” Is for Alibi by Sue Grafton is the 1st book in her highly acclaimed Kinsey Millhone Alphabet Mysteries series.

Go all the way back to the beginning with David Cranmer's review! Would you indulge me in some California dreaming? Thanks. So, “A” Is for Alibi, featuring Sue Grafton's private investigator Kinsey Millhone, debuted in 1982—a year before author Ross Macdonald died. Macdonald had created the fictional town of Santa Teresa where his own PI, Lew Archer, routinely patrolled throughout an eighteen book series. The wealthy area (described by Grafton as “a haven for the abject rich”), which—more than a little—resembles the real Santa Barbara, is where a good chunk of the setting of Alibi takes place. I can picture both detectives sitting down at Rosie’s Tavern, Archer laying his fedora on the table, thoroughly entranced by thirty-two-year-old Kinsey Millhone—she a reflection of his younger self—in a symbolic passing of the torch. Nice to envision, right? Archer’s influence is certainly in Kinsey’s voice as she describes her latest client Nikki Fife, who served time for murder: I had thought her eyes were dark but I could see now that they were a metallic gray.

Her look was level, flattened-out, as though some interior light were growing dim. She seemed to be a lady without much hope. I had never believed she was guilty myself but I couldn't remember what had made me so sure. She seemed passionless and I couldn’t imagine her caring enough about anything to kill. Do you hear it? That distinct cadence in the phrasing, an homage to Ross Macdonald without being a rip, building on the work that he molded from Raymond Chandler’s foundation. Kinsey arrived on the scene six years after the last Archer book, The Blue Hammer (1976). And now, twenty-four books later (X was released in 2015), she is the old pro on the scene—and the Alphabet Mysteries is undoubtedly even more popular than Ms. Grafton’s original inspiration. In this first case that we are privy to (she’d been working as a private gumshoe before Alibi), we are allowed to eavesdrop in on Kinsey as she narrates first person (how else, right?) that Nikki had served her time for murdering her wealthy husband Laurence, a successful divorce lawyer that Kinsey had worked with periodically.

Official cause of his death: he had ingested oleander that he had thought was his medicine. She now comes to Kinsey to find the real killer. Kinsey starts by contacting Lieutenant Con Dolan, who is described as looking “like he would smell of Thunderbird and hang out under bridges throwing up on his own shoes.” He reminds me a bit of Robert B. Parker's Martin Quirk in terms of behavior. He has respect for Kinsey (like Quirk does for Spenser), but is still going to make her earn every inch of his veneration. A big clue in the old files is that an accountant named Libby Glass had died ingesting ground oleander four days after Laurence shuffled off the mortal coil. She had worked for a business-management firm representing the interests of Laurence's law firm. So, Kinsey begins pulling the thread, and, in the process, we learn more about her. A lot more. Reading Macdonald, I never felt close to Archer. Respected him, yes; his points of view—certainly. But, he was more of a mentor than a friend.

Kinsey, if not an improvement on the old guard, is a rewarding detour from the archaic tight-lipped detective. When Laurence's former law partner, Charlie Scorsoni, stops by to chat her up, she feels the pull of mutual attraction. We shook hands as he left. I didn’t know why—maybe just an excuse to touch. Even a contact that casual made the hairs stand up along my arm. My early-warning system was clanging away like crazy and I wasn't sure how to interpret it. It's the same sensation I have sometimes on the twenty-first floor when I open a window—a terrible attraction to the notion of tumbling out. I go a long time between men and maybe it was time again. Not good, I thought, not good. Newsweek has said, "Grafton has created a woman we feel we know...” True enough. She’s someone you would want to friend on Facebook or share vacation pics with on Instagram. Or, better yet, have her over for tea because that’s where you may learn more about the car accident when she was five-years-old that claimed the lives of her parents and is the continuing pain that’s still lodged deep down.

She’d probably tell you how the rebellious streak through school built an autonomy within that has served her well, especially when she became a police officer for the Santa Teresa Police Department, but not kowtowing to authority or management’s treatment of women, prompting her to quit. And, maybe if she really likes you, perhaps you will learn more about those two marriages under her belt. Still, you may have a problem getting close to Kinsey because outside of Rosie, who runs her favorite local bar, and Henry, her landlord, she pretty much sticks to herself—not counting a few relationships sprinkled throughout the series. She did, though, reconnect to family members not long ago. Weird that I’m talking about Kinsey like she’s real? Well, she has that effect on us fans. All the ingredients for the enormously successful alphabet soup are right there in “A” Is for Alibi, with Ms. Grafton stirring it to perfection. We talk a lot about red herrings in mysteries—those pesky little traps that authors set to steer us away from the actual culprits.

Sometimes, they are dropped so erratically that it’s effortless to guess what the author is up to or they come in such a rat-a-tat fashion that one loses interest in even trying to guess. In “A”, Ms. Grafton drops them with the organic precision of a Bouguereau stroke. Kinsey is drawn to or away from suspects and we go right along with her right up to the plot twist that gobsmacks her as well as us and has her fighting for her life. “A” Is for Alibi gets an A+ for continuing perfection three decades later. I’m certain Lew Archer is resting easy knowing Santa Teresa remains in good hands. To learn more or order a copy, visit: David Cranmer aka Edward A. Grainger is the publisher and editor of BEAT to a PULP books and author of The Drifter Detective #7: Torn and Frayed. He lives in New York with his wife and daughter. Sue Grafton & Kinsey Millhone Q&A A is for Alibi When Laurence Fife was murdered, few mourned his passing.

A prominent divorce attorney with a reputation for single-minded ruthlessness on behalf of his clients, Fife was also rumored to be a dedicated philanderer. More... B is for Burglar Beverly Danziger looked like an expensive, carefully wrapped package from a good but conservative shop. Only her compulsive chatter hinted at the nervousness beneath her cool surface. It was a nervousness out of all proportion to the problem she placed before Kinsey Millhone. More... C is for Corpse He was young—maybe twenty or so—and he must once have been a good-looking kid. Kinsey could see that. But now his body was covered in scars, his face half-collapsed. It saddened Kinsey and made her curious. More... D is for Deadbeat He called himself Alvin Limardo, and the job he had for Kinsey was cut-and-dried: locate a kid who'd done him a favor and pass on a check for $25,000. It was only later, after he'd stiffed her for her retainer, that Kinsey found out his name was Daggett. John Daggett. More...

E is for Evidence It was the silly season and a Monday at that, and Kinsey Millhone was bogged down in a preliminary report on a fire claim. Something was nagging at her, but she couldn't pin it. The last thing she needed in the morning mail was a letter from her bank recording an erroneous $5,000 deposit in her account. Kinsey had never believed in Santa Claus and she wasn't about to change her mind now. More... F is for Fugitive Floral Beach wasn't much of a town: six streets long and three deep, its only notable feature a strip of sand fronting the Pacific. It was on that sandy beach seventeen years ago that the strangled body of Jean Timberlake had been found. More... G is for Gumshoe Kinsey is run off the road by a red pickup truck, wrecking her '68 Volkswagen and landing herself in the hospital.

Maybe a bodyguard is a good idea after all...Enter Robert Dietz, a burnt-out detective, "late forties, five ten, maybe 170, [who arrives in] jeans, cowboy boots, a tweed sport coat with a blue toothbrush protruding from the breast pocket like a ballpoint pen." More... H is for Homicide His name was Parnell Perkins, and until shortly after midnight, he'd been a claims adjustor for California Fidelity. Then someone came along and put paid to that line of work. And to any other. Parnell Perkins had been shot at close range and left for dead in the parking lot outside California Fidelity's offices. More... I is for Innocent Readers of Sue Grafton's fiction know she never writes the same book twice, and "I" is for Innocent is no exception. Her most intricately plotted novel to date, it is layered in enough complexity to baffle even the cleverest among us. More... J is for Judgment "J" is for Jaffe: Wendell Jaffe, dead these past five years.

Or so it seemed until his former insurance agent spotted him in the bar of a dusty little resort halfway between Cabo San Lucas and La Paz. Five years ago, when Jaffe's thirty-five-foot Fuji ketch was found drifting off the Baja coast, it seemed a sure thing he'd gone overboard. More... K is for Killer Lorna Kepler was beautiful and willful, a loner who couldn't resist flirting with danger. Maybe that's what killed her. Her death had raised a host of tough questions. The cops suspected homicide, but they could find neither motive nor suspect. Even the means were mysterious. More... L is for Lawless Kinsey's skills are about to be sorely tested. She is about to meet her duplicitious match in a couple of world-class prevaricators who quite literally take her for the ride of her life. "L" is for Lawless: Call it Kinsey Millhone in bad company. Call it a mystery without a murder, a treasure hunt without a map, a quest novel with truly mixed-up motives. More... M is for Malice "M" is for money. Lots of it.

"M" is for Malek Construction, the $40 million company that grew out of modest soil to become one of the big three in California construction, one of the few still in family hands. "M" is for the Malek family: four sons now nearing middle age who stand to inherit a fortune. More... N is for Noose Kinsey Millhone should have done something else—she should have turned the car in the direction of home. Instead, she was about to put herself in the gravest jeopardy of her career. More... O is for Outlaw The call comes on a Monday morning from a guy who scavenges defaulted storage units at auction. The weekend before, he'd bought a stack of cardboard boxes. In one, there was a collection of childhood memorabilia with Kinsey's name all over it. For thirty bucks, he was offering Kinsey the lot. More... P is for Peril Dr. Dowan Purcell had been missing for nine weeks when Kinsey got a call asking her to take on the case. A specialist in geriatric medicine, Purcell was a prominent member of the Santa Teresa medical community, and the police had done a thorough job.

Purcell had no known enemies and seemed contented with his life. More... Q is for Quarry She was a "Jane Doe," an unidentified white female whose decomposed body was discovered near a quarry off California's Highway 1. The case fell to the Santa Teresa County Sheriff's Department, but the detectives had little to go on. More... R is for Ricochet Reba Lafferty was a daughter of privilege, the only child of an adoring father. Nord Lafferty was already in his fifties when Reba was born, and he could deny her nothing. Over the years, he quietly settled her many scrapes with the law, but he wasn't there for her when she was convicted of embezzlement and sent to the California Institute for Women. Now, at thirty-two, she is about to be paroled, having served twenty-two months of a four-year sentence. More... S is for Silence In "S" is for Silence, Kinsey Millhone's nineteenth excursion into the world of suspense and misadventure, "S" is for surprises as Sue Grafton takes a whole new approach to telling the tale. And S is for superb: Kinsey and Grafton at their best. More...

T is for Trespass In what may be her most unsettling novel to date, Sue Grafton's "T" is for Trespass is also her most direct confrontation with the forces of evil. Beginning slowly with the day-to-day life of a private eye, Grafton suddenly shifts from the voice of Kinsey Millhone to that of Solana Rojas, introducing readers to a chilling sociopath. More... U is for Undertow It's April, 1988, a month before Kinsey Millhone's 38th birthday and she's alone in her office doing paperwork when a young man arrives unannounced. He has a preppy air about him and looks as if he'd be carded if he tried to buy booze, but Michael Sutton is 27, an unemployed college drop-out. Twenty-one years before, a four-year old girl disappeared. A recent reference to her kidnapping has triggered a flood of memories. Sutton now believes he stumbled on her lonely burial when he was six years old. More... V is for Vengeance The new Kinsey Millhone novel from the #1 New York Times-bestselling author. "I know there are people who believe you should forgive and forget.

For the record, I'd like to say I'm a big fan of forgiveness as long as I'm given the opportunity to get even first." More... W is for Wasted Two dead men changed the course of my life that fall. One of them I knew and the other I'd never laid eyes on until I saw him in the morgue. The first was a local PI of suspect reputation. He'd been gunned down near the beach at Santa Teresa. It looked like a robbery gone bad. The other was on the beach six weeks later. He'd been sleeping rough. Probably homeless. No identification. A slip of paper with Millhone's name and number was in his pants pocket. More... X Perhaps her darkest and most chilling novel, it features a remorseless serial killer who leaves no trace of his crimes. Once again breaking the rules and establishing new paths, Grafton wastes little time identifying this sociopath. The test is whether Kinsey can prove her case against him before she becomes his next victim. More... Sue Grafton spreads the word and the "W" word is ... Sue Grafton spreads the 'W' word Sue Grafton spreads the word and the "W" word is ...

Post to Facebook Sue Grafton spreads the 'W' word Sue Grafton spreads the word and the "W" word is ... Check out this story on USATODAY.com: CancelSend A link has been sent to your friend's email address. Posted! A link has been posted to your Facebook feed. 28 To find out more about Facebook commenting please read the Conversation Guidelines and FAQs Sue Grafton spreads the 'W' word Carol Memmott, USA TODAY Published 3:00 p.m. ET May 1, 2013 | Updated 3:08 p.m. ET May 1, 2013 And the title of her latest book is ... 'W is for Wasted' is the title of Sue Grafton's new book. (Photo: None) Author of beloved alphabet series announces title of 23rd novel Grafton says books come first and the titles follow Fate of series' Kinsey Millhone is still unknown to her, Grafton says Last week Sue Grafton invited fans to guess the title of the 23rd novel in her alphabet series starring beloved private investigator Kinsey Millhone. Did you guess W is for Wasted?

If you didn't you were "W is for Wrong." More than 5,700 fans participated online for a chance to win an advance reader's copy of the book. Fewer than 50 guessed Wasted. Other guesses included wicked, witness, wrath and whodunit. Grafton spoke with USA TODAY's Carol Memmott about W is for Wasted (to be published on Sept. 10) and the remaining books in the series. And don't miss this exclusive peak at the book jacket. Q. Why did you ask readers to guess the title? A. For one thing, my readers are so caught up in this whole process. They enjoy trying to outwit me, so I thought, let's just give them a chance to participate. One website stated incorrectly that the contest was for readers to choose the title and I about fainted because there's no way I could open it up in that manner. Because who's going to guess what I'm writing about or how a title would apply? Q: How does "Wasted" link to the novel's plot? A: I think my use of the word is if you're drunk or out of it on drugs.

You know, you're so wasted you can't stand up straight. And I am writing about a clinical trial and I'm writing about the homeless — two or three of the fellows participate in this study. And mostly it's the notion of all the waste in crime. Murder is a waste. There is just a sense that there's such a loss when it comes down to criminal behavior. So part of it is metaphorical, if you'll forgive me. I hate to use snooty words. Q: Was this title hard to come up with? A.: There did turn out to be quite a few usable words, so that was not an issue in itself. It's usually just a question of what is going to apply. O was a hideous problem because obituary, for instance, does not translate into other languages. And obit didn't sound right and it didn't have any meaning. So my husband came up with the word outlaw and that worked. And with W, I made a list as I always do as I began work on the book, just so that I had a sense of the words that might play into the storytelling process. And then at a certain point I settled on the term wasted.

Q: So you have to keep in mind whether the title will translate to a "W" word in other languages? A: Often one of the main characters will have a name that starts with the letter of the alphabet so like in C is for Corpse there was Bobby Callahan and in some countries it was called C is for Callahan. And in some languages, there are certain letters that don't exist so I have to leave that to them to solve. Q: We're wrong to think you already have titles in mind for the rest of the books in the series? A: I know Z is for Zero, over and out. X is an interesting letter, but I don't know of a crime that starts with X. I'm hoping somebody will get busy on that. I'm waiting to see. Again there are certain odd words — xenophobe or xenophopia is the only term, that being a hatred of foreigners, that at least suggests a motive for murder. So I may end up, by default, using that. Q: So you don't have the remaining books written and stashed away for future publication? A: I do not. I'm lucky if I can figure out what's happening on the next page.

I do a lot of note taking, I plan very carefully, and my books are very carefully structured. But there are so many surprises and so many unanswered questions when I start to work. Which makes me very nervous although if I knew all the answers I'd be bored to death. So maybe part of the thrill of it is hoping I'll get through it one more time. Q: Do you know where Kinsey will end up when the last page of Z is for Zero is written? A: I don't, and I have often said, "I don't tell her, she tells me." She assures me it's none of my business. But I will not kill her off. My readers are already worried about that — "please don't kill her off." I'm going, "Are you nuts? Why would I kill this woman?" She's adorable. She has been so much fun in my life because she's so naughty. But certainly whatever we do in Z is for Zero I will round it out and at least suggest life after the end of the alphabet. What she will do with herself, whether she'll end up married, joining the Foreign Legion ... I don't know what she will do.

I don't need to know because it will take me six more years. Q: Fans still have to wait for a Kinsey book to be published every two years? A: Yes, because I'm slow. I'm very steady. I'm the tortoise as opposed to the hare. I do not write two books a year. I'm lucky to scramble out one. And I work, I promise you, every day. So it's not like I'm goofing off. I'm just so slow. I work through trial and error. I go down many roads that turn out to be dead ends. So I back up and try another approach. What I do know after all these many years is I know what doesn't work. So when I try a strategy or try a move I know if it's not working. I don't waste a lot of time going down dead-end roads, but I waste more than you'd imagine. And yet it isn't a waste. You discover something whichever direction you take. Q: So fans will have to be satisfied knowing each book is your very best effort? A: You would not have any respect for me the next morning if I went dashing through, slapdash, just cobbling together old plots.

It would ruin it. My joy, to date, is that each book is crafted a little bit differently, the setup for each case is different and I try to deal with different subject matters. I don't want to write the same book 26 times. So far I'm on the track for that. 3331 CONNECT TWEET LINKEDIN 28 COMMENTEMAILMORE Read or Share this story: NEVER MISS OUT Life Be a pop culture maven. Get the news, reviews and the juiciest celebrity stories that keep you in the know, Monday-Friday.

Question: Who created the private investigator Kinsey Millhone?
Answer: (Sue) GRAFTON